Separation of Powers
Why is the "Separation of Powers" as important today as it was when the Founders wrote the U.S. Constitution?
The Importance of Separation of Powers & Checks and Balances:
By: Seth Connell
The importance of the Separation of Powers first came to be in the mid 18th century. A man by the name of. Baron de Montesquieu came up with the idea of dividing the government’s powers into three branches (executive, legislative and judicial). “The purpose of this is to ensure that no one party or belief can have more control over the government than another” (Connell). The Separation of Powers was created to distribute the power the government has evenly throughout the three branches, so that one branch is not superior to the other. The key to separation of powers is to evenly divide the power. As Connell stated, “Legislative branch, the laws are created, budgets are passed, and wars are declared. Executive branch enforces, or vetoes the laws that the legislative branch creates, declares states of emergency, and appoints federal judges, cabinet advisers and heads of other department at the approval of the Senate. The judicial branch determines which laws apply to specific cases; reviews constitutionality of laws, and determine interpretations of laws” (Connell). All the power is equally given to the three branches. To make sure that one branch is not corrupt there are safeguards, or there are things that the other two branches can to prevent corruption. “An example is if the executive branch appointed people to be judges and department heads, but either these people were not qualified, or had a record of corruption, the Senate could reject these appointments to ensure the integrity of the system” (Connell). It was important to have separation of power to the colonists because they just came from a place that was run by a monarchy. This is also a reason separation of power is important today because we as American citizens don’t want to be governed by one person again and have no representation. This system, the Separation of Powers, is not perfect, but it does eliminate monarchy.
Why A Separation Of Powers Is Important
By: lawteacher.net
Separation of Powers is just important as it was back in the
18th century as it is now. The Separation of Powers is a system created
by Montesquieu in the 1700’s. The main use of the system was to ensure
that the power is not abused or given to one person. “He explained
that, in order to prevent the abuse of powers, the power of the government
should not be left entirely to one body or person; instead it should be
separated or divided in some way” (lawteacher.net). Montesquieu came
up with the idea of the three branches Executive, Legislative, and
Judicial. This way all the power the government has would be split up evenly
and each branch would have its own laws to make. The three branches have their
own responsibilities. For an example, “the legislative function is
the making of a new Law and the existing Law alternative or repeal”
(lawtracher.com). What this means it that the legislative branch is in
charge of making the laws for our country and revising them if
needed. "The role of the executive or administrative function is that to
formulate and implement government policy across all governmental activities" (lawteacher.com). The executive branch is that branch that enforces the laws. While the legislative makes the laws, the executive branch makes sure those laws are executed. "The judicial function consists
disputed questions of the facts of particular cases and Law according to the
Law lied down by Parliament and expounded by the Courts (lawteacher.com). The judicial branch is our court system they area the law. It is important that we have the separation of powers to minimize on corruption and abuse of power.
Separation of Powers
By: The Gale Group Inc
The Separation of Powers is something that is very important
to maintain a strong (not corrupt) government. It was important back in the
18th century and may be even more important now. The Separation of Powers is
believed to be the basis or foundation of our constitution. “Separation of powers is a doctrine that is
often believed to rest at the foundation of the U.S. Constitution” (The Gale
Group Inc.). This basically means that the separation of powers was
believed to influence the Constitution, and I was also around when the
Constitution was being written. It had a great effect on how the Constitution
was written. “The modern idea of
separation of powers is to found in one of the most important
eighteenth-century works on political science, the Baron de Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws (1748)” (The Gale
Group Inc.) In this work he states, “There
can be no liberty where the legislation and executive powers are united in the
dame person, or body of magistrates… if the power of judging be not
separated the legislative and executive
powers” (The Gale Group Inc.). To
sum it up, this is just saying that the system will far apart without
separation. People will always want more power, and if it is just separated to
begin with it minimizes the chances of a hunger for power and corruption. Now with the separate branches the government
is more stable, and has less chance of falling apart.